MWM-A1 "Costa"
The MWM-A1 "Costa", further in this technical document referred to as A1, is a M'obile '''W'alking 'M'achine, employed in the service of the Space Navy of the outer Terminus, as a multirole commander unit, and shock troop unit, designed for blitz styled combat, sacrificing armour and survivability for ease of access and mounted and internalized weapon systems. Technology & Combat Characteristics '''Non Combat characteristics Powerplant The mobile weapon is powered by a standard Minovsky particle reactor. Minovsky particles allow for clean and small-sized fusion energy, though at the expense of creation of further minovsky particles. These particles interfere with unshielded electronics, and with radiation on both the low and high end of the spectrum, from infrared laser communications, through visible waves, to radio waves. In effect, this makes combat through the use of conventional weapons extremely difficult. Thrusters Though previous generations of mobile weapons have used chemical thrusters, these designs proved difficult to miniaturize, due to the need to use both oxidizers and propellants. Through discoveries in metamaterials and advanced ceramics, materials able to conduct high amounts of heat have been discovered. This allows the creation of direct emission thrusters, where a dense gas or liquid propellant is passed along the heated radiator sink inside the engine bell, exiting out at pressure and at high temperature. This allows for miniaturization and better throttling of the propulsion system. Armor While ceramic composites have been used in armour for vehicles even before the colonization of space, Ceramics have long been surpassed by metallic alloys of rarer materials abundantly present in the asteroid belt. However, from a mass to protection ratio, ceramic alloys allow for light armour, with reasonable protection for the mass offered by the light ceramics. A boon of the use of such materials is that the ceramic armor is extremely heat resistant, allowing for atmospheric entry, and operation in extreme environments, such as the battle at L3. Weapons Back-mounted weapon system (BMWS) The BMWS is a joint weapon system, of both a conventional and beam-based weapon. The conventional, bullet based system, is a Gatling cannon, mounted on a swivel, allowing for a 360-degree cone of attack. While the Gatling's calibre is small, for a mobile weapon, it's protective potential from missiles, or smaller vehicles is not something to be overlooked. Along with its use as a CIWS, the cannon is paired with an impressive sensor suite, allowing for the system to designate targets for other units in a combined arms foundation. The second weapon, a beam based large bore and high-density beam cannon, is the primary weapon of the unit. This canon is able to penetrate composite metal hulls of smaller ships with ease. The problem with the weapon is the small rate of fire and relative inability to track fast targets like fighters. Hip-mounted beam-gun A rather conventional weapon on the battlefield of this time, a beam weapon uses a compressed stream of minovsky particles to heat and melt impacted materials. This weapon foregoes the usual long barrel and complex magnetic focuses to throw a wide beam from its short barrel. This allows a short range but wide beam weapon with its range being the main drawback. This weapon does so well with the tandem of the zippy mobile weapon, that it fully replaced the unit's melee weapon in the standard loadout. A melee weapon can replace this weapon if requested. Shield mounted beam shotgun Another''' beam-based weapon, this one takes the principle of the hip mounted beam cannon and uses wider emitters to accomplish an effect closest associated to shotguns loaded with balls. Optionally, this weapon can be replaced with a beam shield. The shield itself is made from metallic alloys, resistant well both to ballistic and beam weapons. '''Beam rifle A bog standard beam rifle, firing streams of minovsky particles to destroy enemy armour and systems. Works much like battleship and larger sized beam weaponry, only on smaller scale, which allows for a higher fire rate.